Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1887-02-04


The time for vote had come, and
representative Scott, of PENNSYLVANIA
here asked leave to offer an amend
ment to the bill, but Mr.. Tucker said
" No, | could not permit this. | want
to pass the bill now, so that the 18th
OF January will be memorable in the
history of the country" Dem.
WASHINGTON, Jan. %, 1887.
The present week in Congress has
been devoted to miscellaneous ques-
tions. Various subjects have had at
tention, and some of them have been
disposed Of Pensions have been
pushed in both ends of the capitol,
appropriation bills and the Agricul-
tural Experiment Station bill have
been debated in the Senate; the sub
ject of the Centennial celebration has
come up; matters Of local interest
have been discussed; new bills have
been presented, and Pacific railroad
matters have commanded Il consider
able portion of the time of the House
The purpose of the House of Repre-
scntatives in voting for an invcstiga-
tion Of this Pacific railroad business is
not to prosecute Mr.. Stanford, the
President of these roads, who occupies
Il seat in the U. S. Senate, but passes
upon legislation for the country and
protects his own interests accordingly.
The Government has large interest
in this railroad property, and it is a
duty of Congress to let the people
know what went with those two mil
lions that were spent some way. The
fact that the California Senator SAYS
it went in the right way; that he does
not care to explain how, an that it is
not the business of the public to know;
is not satisfactory. The people are
not yet ready to accept bribery as an
established institution. They have a
right to ask by what process the profits
of the road are diverted into the pock-
cts of private individuals. The answer
has reference both to the Governments
business with the corporations and to
the right of Mr.. Stanford, one of the
principal disburscrs, to II seat in the
U. S. Senate. Said friend of Senator
Stanford: AN investigating COM
mittce will never be able to get any
thing out of Mr.. Stanford. He keeps
faith with those who serve him. No
Congressman or ex-Congrcssman need
be afraid the Senator will divulge anv
transactions he has had with them"
1t was in this connection that Sena-
tor Beck said, "Give me a man who
belongs to himself" He added that
he would rather see Roscoe Conkling
come to the Senate than any other
man from the State of New York, be-
cause he could be counted on for an
honest vote upon all questions, wheth-
er relating to railroads or anything
else. "Morton and Miller both have
corporation interests" said Mr.. Beck.
Conkling has none, and though | re-
cognize the fact that he can harm the
Democracy more than any other man
in the Senate, he belongs to himself"
1t is comforting to know that Hon.
S. S. Cox, who has been very sick
man for the past two weeks, is now
in a fair way towards recovery. At
the present time when Congress is
daily losing character, when the quail
ifications of Senators are to be found
in their pockets instead of their heads,
and when corporations are growing
bolder and bolder in their interference
with legislation, the services Of Rep
resentative like Mr.. Cox, whose integ-
rity is invincible, and who is the dread
of the lobby, cannot be Over-estimated.
People all over the country write to
Mr.. Cox about matters connected with
the administration of the Government.
During his illness his mail matter had
accumulated to such formidable pro-
portions that his private secretary
asked representatives of the press to
make the condition Of the popular
Congressman known to the people as
generally as possible. Since then tele-
grams of sympathy have been coming
in place of business letters.
The bill passed by the Senate, grant
ing pensions of $1,000 a year to the
widows of Generals Logan and Blair,
met with opposition in the Pension
Committee Of the House. The major
ity of the committee are reluctant to
continue the policy Of granting high
pensions to the widows of officers who
did not die from injuries incurred in
the service. The only precedence for
such bills are i'll the cases of widows
and families of Admiral Farragut and
Generals Hancock, Thomas and
Grant. The majority of the committee
think it would he inadvisahle to follow
these precedents in view Of the fact
that there are now about one hundr, d
surviving widows Of officers who would
then be entitled to pensions who are
now excluded by the general law.
When that sweeping pension bill
was rushed through the House provid
ing for dependent parents, and soldiers
and sailors who received no injuries
during their term of service, but are
simply too old or too feeble to work